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18 Dec 00 - 05:40 AM (#358919) Subject: Aussie Jingle Bells From: Helen This is an e-mail doing the rounds at the moment here in Oz. If you need a translation of some of the terms just let me know. I wish I knew who wrote it. Unfortunately the writer's name did not appear with the lyrics. Helen
Dashing through the bush,
Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way,
Engine's getting hot;
Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way,
Come the afternoon,
Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, |
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18 Dec 00 - 05:56 AM (#358920) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Aussie Jingle Bells From: Steve Parkes Take pity on a poor Pom, mate, and give us a bit of translation. (Or maybe a complete translation for the Yanks!) Sorry, is it PC to address a lady as "mate"? Is anything PC in Aussie?! These are the bits I'm having trouble with: a Holden Ute is a car or other vehicle? what's "esky"? (I can make a good guess here) "Kelpie" is a name, not a Celtic water-spirit? I do know what a swaggie is! Good on yer, Steve |
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18 Dec 00 - 07:06 AM (#358934) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Aussie Jingle Bells From: Bob Bolton G'day Steve, Holden is the local incarnation of General Motors - having bought into the Holden Bodyworks in the 1940s. A ute (utility vehicle) is more or less what Americans would call a pick-up truck, but based on a sedan cabin and with a raised edge to the tray and fitted tonneau covers. This was an Australian design (OK, it was made by Ford Australia in the '20s) - specification was to be able to shift a few sheep or hay bales during the week but scrub up well enought to take the family to church on Sunday. Esky is a brand of insulated carry bin - usually filled with chilly beer cans. Kelpie is the distinctive Australian sheep dog - all of which descend in some measure from Kelpie a champion short haired collie of a century or so back. The rumour that they also descend from dingos is just that ... a rumour! Colin Buchanan's city background sneaks through in this song: a real country boy would know that a ute doesn't have a boot (trunk to you tin tanks) ... but it does get him out of a difficult rhyme! Regards, Bob Bolton |
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18 Dec 00 - 07:09 AM (#358936) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Aussie Jingle Bells From: Bob Bolton G'day again, Oh Yeh ... and real bush utes don't get rusty ... you are lucky to get rain some years, so they don't get wet often enought to rust. (Always buy spare panels from the bush to fix your rusty coastal city car.) Regar(les)s, Bob Bolton |
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18 Dec 00 - 08:41 AM (#358959) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Aussie Jingle Bells From: Snuffy JINGLE BELLS (Australian) is in the DT database.. Wassail! V |
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18 Dec 00 - 09:15 AM (#358986) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Aussie Jingle Bells From: Mrrzy This is great! Wish we'd had this when I was living in equatorial Africa, one year the guy they had all dolled up in the Santa Clause suit for the Embassy party actually fainted from the heat... and we used to be in our bikinis and at the beach after opening presents... it was great! Now I like snow, but I'd still rather celebrate "on a scorching summer day" than in the cold! |
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18 Dec 00 - 10:24 AM (#359025) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Aussie Jingle Bells From: Gary T I like it. I need a bit more help with translation, though. I don't know what a swaggie is, and I haven't figured out the meaning of "all shoot through" (I was thinking shoot the photograph, but it seems the snapshot has already been taken). Thanks. Here in the states, one sometimes hears "sports ute" for sports utility vehicle, but more often the acronym "SUV". The typical SUV doesn't have open cargo space for sheep or hay, and more often than not is the modern trendy equivalent of the station wagon (estate car). |
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18 Dec 00 - 09:50 PM (#359532) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Aussie Jingle Bells From: Bob Bolton G'day Gary T, Well, at least Steve parkes did know what a swaggie was ... We think everyone has hear Waltzing Matilda some time. A swaggie or swagman is someone getting around the country on foot, carrying his possessions rolled in a swag (usually an old blanket, strapped up with a couple of carrying straps). He is (was) usually an seasonal or itinerant worker, eking out his last paycheck by sleeping rough where ever nightfall finds him - cadging rations and a bit more sleeping comfort from any stations (~ ranches) he passes. If really desperate, he might even do some work for rations. However, the large station owners knew they depended on itinerant workers, so it was customary to hand out some variation of "Ten, ten, one and a half" (Ten pounds of flour, ten pounds of meat, one pound of sugar and half a pound of tea) to genuine itinerants. This would last them until they reached the next station - often several days away! Interestingly, most swaggies vanished with the coming of affordable pushbikes. You could cover a lot of country on a bike ... and it didn't need feeding while you worked a shearing season, or similar. These days the seasonal bush worker would probably own a fairly tired (if not rusty) Holden ute ... or a Toyota 4wd! Utilities are fairly common working vehicles here. Mechanically they will be identical with a sedan from the same maker's range and they usually have only two seats, but are fairly presentable vehicles. They are however, definitely working class, and no relation to fat leisure vehicles of any persuasion. To "shoot throught" is to depart quickly (and often unannounced). The full expression in Sydney used to be "shoot through like a Bondi tram", but trams (trolleys?) haven't run to Bondi (famous beach suburb) ... or anywhere else in Sydney ... for nearly 40 years,except for a flash new one that is really a light rail train and gets from the CBD to a couple of trendy inner suburbs. Regards, Bob Bolton |
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18 Dec 00 - 09:54 PM (#359537) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Aussie Jingle Bells From: Helen Steve, I'm happy to be called "mate", and you are probably right - almost anything is able to be said here, as long as it's said with a smile, even if it isn't quite PC. Bob, Thanks for the translations, and the songwriter's name. A boot in a ute? I didn't pick up on htat anomaly. Snuffy, I never thought to look in the DT. I thought it might have been recently written. Gary T, A swaggie or swagman, as in "Once a jolly swagman, camped by a billabong..." - Waltzing Matilda. A man who carried his belongings around in a bundle (swag) on his back looking for work around the countryside/bush. The modern day equivalent is a backpacker working and travelling, I suppose. Shoot through means to leave. The Macquarie Oz dictionary says it means to go away, or absent oneself improperly e.g. "instead of going to the exam he shot through", or to move away rapidly e.g. "to shoot through like a Bondi tram". Love these examples! I used to be able to buy Christmas cards with illustrations by Roland Harvey. He used images of bush/desert/outback Christmas, Santa wearing shorts, often at the beach, bush huts and barbecues. I haven't seen any of these cards for years. I kinda wish I hadn't given them away now. Helen |
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19 Dec 00 - 02:45 AM (#359637) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Aussie Jingle Bells From: The Shambles On UK TV they have been showing a trail for The Three Tenors Christmas Songs show. Can anyone tell me what words Pavarotti is sing on the final 'one horse open sleigh' bit? It is not the same as the othet two thirds are singing anyway........ |
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19 Dec 00 - 02:46 AM (#359638) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Aussie Jingle Bells From: The Shambles It could be 'a rusty Holden Ute'. |
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19 Dec 00 - 03:31 AM (#359649) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Aussie Jingle Bells From: Steve Parkes Helen mate, that's good news -- where I come from (the Black Country in the English Midlands) we call everybody "mate" or "our kid"; we don't say "ma wench" any more! I used to sing with a bloke (we say that as well) who'd worked at Mara Linga (is that how you spell it?) in the sixties. He'd learned a lot of Australian songs while he was there, as well as getting a pretty good grip on the lingo. He was very popular at folk clubs with their darkened rooms because he used to glow in the dark! My grandmother gave me a dictionary, one of the Oxford English range, and it had an Australian section at the back -- I kid you not! My favourite entry was this: "widgie -- female larrikin". What a concise definition! Steve |
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19 Dec 00 - 08:14 AM (#359700) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Aussie Jingle Bells From: Bob Bolton G'day Steve: Maralinga is one word - local Aboriginal name for the place, before we enhanced it with a light sprinkling of plutonium. Helen: Colin Fong, my co-editor on Mulga Wire, the Bush Music Club magazine is friendly with Roland Harvey and, for several years, we ran one of his R Har cards as the cover of the December issue. I'm not sure why we stopped - possibly Colin's job change took him out of range. Regards, Bob Bolton |
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19 Dec 00 - 07:53 PM (#360111) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Aussie Jingle Bells From: Gary T Bob and Helen, thank you for the info. |